Madlanga Commission schedules public hearing on NICOC secrecy application

Illustrative file photograph by Wesley Tingey / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License.

The Madlanga Commission is set to hear arguments in public on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, at 09:00 SAST in Pretoria on a request to hear an intelligence coordinator’s testimony behind closed doors.

According to The Citizen’s report on Tuesday, chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga issued the scheduling directive on Monday, 19 October. The application concerns Dr Ntandazo Sifolo, acting coordinator of the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee, or NICOC.

The commission’s evidence leaders brought the application on 12 October. It is opposed by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, Daily Maverick and Media24.

How the hearing will run

The applicants and those opposing the request are each allocated 45 minutes to present their arguments. The applicants then have 15 minutes to reply.

Sifolo’s testimony had originally been scheduled to begin on 13 October before it was postponed. The report does not give a new date for his substantive evidence.

Wednesday’s public session concerns the confidentiality application. It does not establish that Sifolo’s underlying testimony will be public, and the application’s outcome remains to be determined.

What the commission’s rules allow

The commission’s published rules provide for hearings to be held in public, subject to an exception under rule 4.2.

That rule allows the chairperson, in an appropriate case, to order a hearing to take place in camera, meaning privately, or through electronic means. The order must specify who may attend in camera or by another means.

The rules also require the commission to keep the public informed about matters to be covered at its hearings through its website or another medium. Those general provisions do not decide the particular application involving Sifolo.